Jon Stewart Says Rallies Satirical, Not Political

Jon Stewart says he has quite a bit in common with conservative commentator Glenn Beck — at least similar reasons for being in the Op-Eds business.

And the "Daily Show" host emphasized that his and Stephen Colbert's planned rallies in Washington, D.C., next month are not a liberal reaction to Beck's recent "Restoring Honor" gathering.

Stewart's "Rally to Restore Sanity" and Colbert's "March to Keep Fear Alive" are just another way to poke fun at the political process and news coverage of it, he said.

"The march is like everything that we do, just a construct . . . to translate the type of material that Stephen and I do," Stewart said in a Q&A session at the 92nd Street Y.

Indeed, Stewart viewed his main job as holding the media accountable. "I'm less upset about politicians than the media," he said, explaining that the former can be expected to behave a certain way, like a monkey, but the latter should play zookeeper and say "bad monkey."

Discussing politicians' criticism of Colbert's recent congressional testimony in character and comments that he should be embarrassed, Stewart said Colbert could at least feel embarrassment because he, unlike many politicians, "still has integrity."

When a written audience question arrived on stage that mentioned that "The Daily Show with Jon Stewart" eventually will have to end, Stewart quipped: "Who said this? Is this how it happens? Am I fired?"

Jon Stewart says he has quite a bit in common with conservative commentator Glenn Beck at least similar reasons for being in the Op-Eds business.And the Daily Show host emphasized that his and Stephen Colbert's planned rallies in Washington, D.C., next month are not a...